Facebook Messenger Coming To Windows Phone Platform Within “Weeks”

Windows Phone users hankering to get their hands on Facebook’s Messenger app don’t have much longer left to wait — the instant messaging service will land on the Windows Phone store within “weeks”, Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore said today.

Belfiore was speaking at Microsoft’s press & analyst event, taking place in Barcelona ahead of the Mobile World Congress tradeshow which kicks off tomorrow.

“We’ve been working with Facebook testing out their implementation for a while,” he said. “It’s looking good and we will have it for our customers soon.”

Belfiore, the Windows Phone VP, argued that 2013 was a very good year for Microsoft’s mobile ecosystem, noting particularly growth in handset shipments in markets such as the U.K. and Italy, and also talking how the number of apps continues to grow — mentioning the arrive of big name apps like Vine and Waze — which he said has helped to improve the overall platform experience for users.

Another of the big name apps that finally arrived on Windows Phone last year was Instagram — albeit, years later than it hit iOS.

The three updates that the Windows Phone platform received last year were “mostly” focused on “growing the general scale opportunity around the world”, said Belfiore. “And with that has come a bunch of apps.”

There are now some 200,000+ apps on the Windows Phone store, according to Belfiore, with app downloads totalling 4 billion.

“There’s a number of more great apps coming soon,” he added. “Stay tuned as you hear about more compelling demanded user apps coming for Windows Phone.”